Is Boehner laying a trap for Obama?

House Speaker John Boehner says he and House Republicans want to be “led” by President Obama. But is that just a way of laying a trap for the newly re-elected commander in chief if fiscal cliff talks don’t go Boehner’s way?

A fiscal cliff deal that raises taxes on the wealthy — as Obama wants to do — will instantly allow Boehner to claim that Obama isn’t leading. Obama would brush off that sort of verbal entrapment, but the Obama-isn’t-a-leader line could work well for a Republican Party that is regrouping and trying to figure out how to do better in the next elections.

To recap, on Wednesday, a day after the elections, Boehner said:
“We’re ready to be led, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans. We want you to lead — not as a liberal or a conservative, but as the President of the United States of America,” Boehner said.

With markets on edge about the fiscal cliff, and with Americans still politically divided after a long election season, Boehner and Obama are taking care to sound open to compromise. Speaking at the White House on Friday, Obama said he’s looking forward to hearing Boehner’s ideas during talks at the White House next week.

But it’s pretty clear that Boehner won’t view this statement made by Obama on Friday as “leading”:

“If we’re serious about reducing the deficit, we have to combine spending cuts with revenue — and that means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes.” Boehner doesn’t want taxes to go up on anyone.

To be sure, paths exist for both sides to claim victory in the fiscal cliff talks. Boehner has said he is open to revenues and suggested that he wants to target loopholes and deductions down the road. Obama has proposed limiting the value of deductions — albeit for the wealthy.

The trick is to find the middle ground, so neither has to call his opponent a leader.